Beach Boys - "Smile" reconstruction

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MK
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Postby MK » Wed Nov 09, 2005 10:17 pm

Funny you should bring that up, I actually know a guy who knows one of the Wondermints, I THINK he's a keyboardist, I'm not sure because I don't know the Wondermints. My memory's a little shot on this, but when I heard he got to meet McCartney, Daltrey, and other rock royalty types from being in the band, my reply of "That's cool" was met with "NOBODY thought it was going to be cool." I think the guy had reservations doing this but it lasted longer than he thought it would and evolved from Pet Sounds Live to SMiLE. It's a good living and fun, but he hasn't done any of his own stuff as a result. And no, I'm not familiar with any Wondermints solo work.

BTW, disappointed with PurpleChick's work. Kudos for trying, but the seams are too damn obvious, source quality is all over the place, often poor, the synch-ups feel weird...it's a digital mess. I think going for stereo AND a quasi-puritanical faithfulness to the 2004 SMiLE script (sans 2004 Brian Wilson vocals) may have caused too many problems for him. I got by most of mine by working in mono and allowing certain departures from the 2004 SMiLE, but I still had a few problems - stuff with "Barnyard," etc. - and unfortunately PurpleChick seems to have the same problems I had. I don't want to put him down, his mix is FAR more ambitious. Stereo was never even considered by me and PurpleChick took up the challenge.
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Re: Beach Boys - "Smile" reconstruction

Postby MK » Wed Nov 09, 2005 10:21 pm

czeskleba wrote:Arguing that the (unfinished) BB version of Smile is superior to the new Brian version is kind of like arguing that OJ is guilty. Anyone who disagrees with you is going to be either mentally ill or just too stupid to reason with.


Tell that to Robert "A+ rating in his Consumer Guide, 5 stars in Rolling Stone" Christgau.

Wait, I forgot, Christgau's been losing it since the early 90's. Just read his P&J essays, a fascinating document in mental decline.
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Postby Mike Hunte » Wed Nov 09, 2005 10:51 pm

czeskleba wrote:Everybody knows Brian is sensitive to criticism, and I think as a result there has emerged this subgroup of Brian fanboys who believe that any criticism of any Brian project is somehow going to filter back to him and cause him to have another breakdown. It's a sort of cultlike "Brian says the new Smile is better so we must agree with him" thing.




Brianistas are some of the scariest folks on the planet. They make the Elvis cultists look like rank amateurs.

The sad fact is that this free-pass mentality has prevented any sort of real dialogue over the virtues or deficiencies of his recent endeavors. Even sadder is the fact that the usually hyper-critical rock press are some of the worst offenders of this "hands-off" mentality.

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Postby Mike Hunte » Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:26 pm

MK wrote:BTW, disappointed with PurpleChick's work. Kudos for trying, but the seams are too damn obvious, source quality is all over the place, often poor, the synch-ups feel weird...it's a digital mess. I think going for stereo AND a quasi-puritanical faithfulness to the 2004 SMiLE script (sans 2004 Brian Wilson vocals) may have caused too many problems for him. I got by most of mine by working in mono and allowing certain departures from the 2004 SMiLE, but I still had a few problems - stuff with "Barnyard," etc. - and unfortunately PurpleChick seems to have the same problems I had. I don't want to put him down, his mix is FAR more ambitious. Stereo was never even considered by me and PurpleChick took up the challenge.


At this point I'm able to listen past the obvious editing and technical flaws and source material limitations. I admire the effort because this *isn't* just another Smile fan mix. Those should always sound good, because they can simply eliminate the stuff that doesn't work, or deviate from the script if technical limitations get in the way. Those will still always be the more listenable of the two in absolute terms. Yeah, his "Barnyard" is weak (the worst of his IMO), and "Good Vibes" is a mess (the second worst - he should have just used the original single -- maybe add a few embellishments -- and been done with it), but I'll give him points for staying true to his mission. He definitely should have done the whole thing in mono. This would have helped hide the jarring edits/overlays and differences in source material. He could have also paid more attention to EQ'ing the different sources into something a little more seamless, and matched his different levels between tracks better. The edit at the end of 'Cabinessence' is pretty mediocre.

But, I think this comp serves its purpose as a way of showing people the built-in superiority of the BB recordings vs. the current version in some sort of 1:1 linear fashion - sans the missing vocals. Yeah, it's a hybrid monster. Many things can be improved. But, we can always take the torch and try for ourselves. I'm still gonna do this myself someday, god-willing. I made my own Smile "mix" 10-12 years ago - that was easy. But I'd like to try something more directional in its mission at some point.

The next thing I suppose someone will try -- if sticking true to the BWSmile script is their intention -- is to simply sub in the current versions where need be with the weak or missing originals. Jarring as that might be considering the state of Brian's voice and the different production values, it might be the only acceptable compromise.
Last edited by Mike Hunte on Thu Nov 10, 2005 12:55 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: Beach Boys - "Smile" reconstruction

Postby czeskleba » Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:41 pm

MK wrote:Wait, I forgot, Christgau's been losing it since the early 90's. Just read his P&J essays, a fascinating document in mental decline.


Does anyone think Christgau actually sits around at home and listens for pleasure to the 50 Cent, Eminem, or Kanye West albums he's given A's to in recent years?

Good reviews for Brian's Smile are kinda like giving Henry Fonda an Oscar for On Golden Pond. Lifetime achievement awards disguised as recognition for a new work. Either that, or written by people who haven't heard the BB Smile recordings. If I'd never heard any of that stuff, I would think Brian's Smile was a pretty good album for a burnout case. It's only by comparison that its lifelessness really becomes apparent.

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Postby Chris M » Thu Nov 10, 2005 12:46 am

Well said. I'm still pissed that we after all the recent Smile hoopla we still don't know what the fuck I'm in Great Shape is.

There is a late 70's photo of a shelf at the Beach Boys tape archive that has a tape box labeled "Brian: Dumb Angel" that sits next the album masters for the rest of the 60's LP's. According the Alan Boyd this tape is no longer in the vault and it's whereabouts are a mystery. He has no idea what the tape contains...

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Postby Mike Hunte » Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:11 am

Andreas wrote:Vegatables mono mix, my edit.

http://s37.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2N7N ... KNFHOSOOKQ


Interesting fan mix. What boot did the take with the drum track that comes in around the 1:00 mark come from? Is it on the SOT Smile box? I don't recall it.

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Postby lukpac » Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:34 am

Mike Hunte wrote:Ok...I'll email it to you then. Could you FTP it up to your space and post a link?


http://lukpac.org/files/BeachBoys-Smile-PC-inside.jpg
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Postby Mike Hunte » Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:59 am



Mucho thanks compadre.

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Postby Mike Hunte » Thu Nov 10, 2005 1:46 pm

Listening some more, a couple of more things that could've been improved on. The end transitions of Barnyard leading into Sunshine and Song For Children leading into CITFOM could have both been tighter. I think there still might also be a hair of a pitch discrepancy betwen Barnyard and Sunshine...certainly easily correctable though.

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Postby Andreas » Thu Nov 10, 2005 2:00 pm

Mike Hunte wrote:
Andreas wrote:Vegatables mono mix, my edit.

http://s37.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2N7N ... KNFHOSOOKQ


Interesting fan mix. What boot did the take with the drum track that comes in around the 1:00 mark come from? Is it on the SOT Smile box? I don't recall it.

SOT 17, Disc 2, track 31.

Just to be clear: Nothing in this fan edit is mixed by me. All I did was editing. No mixing, no cross-fades, no fold-down of stereo.

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Postby Mike Hunte » Thu Nov 10, 2005 3:06 pm

Oh oh, it's a war of the reconstructionists. Fast Eddie just posted his FLAC version too.

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Postby Mike Hunte » Sun Nov 13, 2005 4:59 pm

I just downloaded the Fast Eddie. All I can say is... skip it. While it doesn't try and copy the new BWSmile to the letter as the PC does, the edits and overall production work are sloppy. Too many things to even begin listing. The "Surf's Up" overlay falls out of sync in places, and the "Good Vibrations" edits are really amateur just to name a few. Sorry if you're out there Fast Eddie, but I have to give it thumbs down.

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Postby Chris M » Sun Nov 13, 2005 11:44 pm

Andreas wrote:
Chris M wrote:Beach boys vault guy Alan Boyd mentioned on the Smiley Smile shop board that they have an (I think) 8 track comp reel that contains one or two versions of Barnyard. I don't think this has been booted. Sound quality should be much better than the acetate that has been doing the rounds for ages. Andreas might know more...

I am not up to date with respect to new findings in the Beach Boys vaults. So I have not heard about this. If it had been booted, I would have known, though. The most recent revelation that I am aware of was All Day, an early short piano-only version of Love to Say Da Da.


Alan Boyd recently posted on the Smiley Shop board that they haven't found any Smile stuff since the short instrumental takes of I'm in Great Shape were discovered a few years ago. They do have a good tape source for Barnyard though. I guess that one was missed by whoever did the Sea of Tunes stuff..

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Postby Mike Hunte » Mon Nov 14, 2005 2:42 pm

Chris M wrote:
Alan Boyd recently posted on the Smiley Shop board that they haven't found any Smile stuff since the short instrumental takes of I'm in Great Shape were discovered a few years ago. They do have a good tape source for Barnyard though. I guess that one was missed by whoever did the Sea of Tunes stuff..


I just hope that at some point it gets booted. While nothing revelatory, it would still be nice to put that noisy acetate to rest.

BTW, I just wandered over to the Smile Shop board for the first time in ages. I forgot how out there some of the fans are! "Fans" is actually too soft of a word...hehe.

Yet, it's nowhere near as bad as bw.com. The fawning and worship there are unbearable.